Multiple-effect evaporating apparatus.



No. 657,900. Patented Sept. l l, I900.

E. J. DUFF. MULTIPLE EFFECT EVAPORATING APPARATUS.

lApplica-tion filed Feb. 13, 1900.;

(No Model) UNrrnD STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDlVARD JAMES DUFF, OF LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONF-IIALF TO THEUNITED ALKALI COMPANY, LIMITED, OF SAME PLACE.

M ULTIPLE-EFFECT EVAPORATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 657,900, datedSeptember 11, 1900.

Application filed February 13, 1900. Serial No. 5,115. tNo model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD JAMES DUFF, engineer a subject of the Queenof Great Britain and Ireland, residing at 30 James street, Liverpool, inthe county of Lancaster, England, haveinvented certain new and usefulImprovements in Multiple-Effect Brine- Evaporating Apparatus; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to apparatus for evaporating'brine and the like;and among its objects are to provide a series of separate vacuuunpanseach open to access on all sides, so that it may be fed and repairedseparately, to shorten and straighten the connections for steam inorderto dispense with return-coils, &c., and, in short, to produce themost efficient results with the greatest economy of construction and tominimize the loss of heat by radiation.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of one form of myinvention, one pan being partly broken away; and Fig. 2 is a sideelevation of the same viewed from the left of Fig. 1.

Reference-letters A represent the vacuumpans, of which the drawings showfour; but of course any number may be employed. Each pan has aheating-chamber B, shown here as a belt or drum 1), for steam or otherheating agent and provided with the (vertical) tubes 1) for circulationof the brine in the pan. Each pan also has the leg 0, terminating in theboot D, from which rises an elevator E to discharge into the receptacleF. At the top of each pan is a short thick outletneck a, extendingsubstantially horizontally. According to my invention these vacuu mpansare arranged in an ascending series side by side, but each except thefirst somewhat above the level of the preceding one, so that itsheating-chamber will be on a level with the neck of that preceding pan.The feedpipe at has the branches a for introducing brine into each panA, being, of course, provided with theusnal stop-cocks.

G G is a condenser into which cold water enters at g and with which theoutlet-neck a of the last or upper pan A communicates.

Steam or other heating agent is admitted by pipe 1) into theheating-chamber B of the first or lowest pan A. The steam resulting fromthe consequent evaporation of the brine in that pan rises upward andpasses through neck a into the heating-chamber of the next pan in theseries in such a direction as to impinge directly against the tubes 1)thereof, and so on until the steam from the last pan is drawn into thecondenser G, which is offecctual in the production of a vacuum.

I do not limit myself to the exact construc tion of details, as myinvention lies principally in the relative arrangement of tanks.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- A multiple-eifectbrine-evaporating apparatus, comprising a number of separate andindependent vacuum-pans arranged side by side in ascending series, eachpan being provided with a heating-chamber and having at its top ahorizontal outlet-neck, and the neck of each pan communicating directlywith the heating-chamber of the next higher pan in the series, as andfor the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD JAMES DUFF.

Witnesses:

ALFRED PATCHETT, THOMAS SPROAT.

